Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.”
(Matthew 18.29 NRSV)
A. J. Cronin, the novelist, was also a doctor. His first assignment was to a Welsh town where he performed his first surgery on a little girl. She was suffering from a serious case of diphtheria. Cronin did a tracheotomy and her condition improved, but she was still in critical condition. After the operation, he told the nineteen-year-old nurse on duty, "I'm going to try to get some sleep. When this tube clogs up, take it out immediately and clean it. Then, come and get me."

Within hours, the tube did clog up. Instead of taking it out, however, the young nurse panicked and ran for the doctor. By the time Cronin got to the girl's bed, she was dead. He was furious. The very next day he wrote a letter recommending that this young nurse's license be revoked. He called her in and read it to her. The nurse, close to tears, pleaded for a second chance. Cronin was unrelenting. However, her words haunted him all night. Upon awaking in the morning he suddenly remember that once he had offered to Christ the same exact plea: "Give me a second chance." The nurse was given a second chance and went on to become the superintendent of the biggest children's hospital in Britain.

Have you ever been given a second chance? Pass it on.

God of second chances, help me to pass on them to others. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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